Two-roll towel dispensing cabinet



Nov. 7, 1961 J. A. BURTON TWO-ROLL TOWEL DISPENSING CABINET 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 12, 1959 INVENTOR. JoH/v A. BUR TON BY W Ewan h TTORNEYS Nov. 7, 1961 J. A. BURTON TWO-ROLL TOWEL DISPENSING CABINET 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 12, 1959 v INVENTOR. JOHN A. BUR TON 7&4

T ORNEYS 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Jan. 12, 1959 INVENTOR. JoH/v A. .Bue ro/v A 7' TORNEYS Nov. 7, 1961 J. A. BURTON TWO-ROLL TOWEL DISPENSING CABINET 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Jan. 12, 1959 INVENTOR. JOHN .A. BURTON United States Patent 3,007,650 TWO-ROLL TOWEL DISPENSING CABINET John A. Burton, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada,

assignor to Crown Zellerbach Corporation, San Francisco, Calif., a corporation of Nevada Filed Jan. 12, 1959, Ser. No. 786,247 10 Claims. (Cl. 242-553) This invention relates to the dispensing of paper towels of the kind packaged as a continuous web in roll form supported in a cabinet from which the toweling can be withdrawn and torn off in lengths of usable size. Most towel cabinets contain a single roll which must be replaced when the toweling is exhausted. This creates a demand for frequent servicing to insure the existence of toweling in the cabinet when it is-needed.

The present invention relates particularly to multiple or dual roll towel dispensers wherein two rolls of toweling are contained in a single cabinet and it is an object of [the invention to provide means whereby upon exhaustion of the paper from one roll the paper from the second roll will be made available automatically.

Another object of the invention is to provide means for opening the cabinet when either roll is exhausted to replace it with a full roll without disturbing the operating mechanism for the other roll.

A further object of the invention is to provide means operable upon opening of such a cabinet temporarily to move towel feeding and roll sensing mechanisms to permit free movement of the roll and facilitate threading of the new roll of toweling to a position of readiness for use when the other roll is exhausted.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the invention are made apparent in the following specification by reference to the accompanying drawings in which a preferred form of the invention is shown in detail.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating the position of the toweling and feed rolls in a cabinet with the cabinet open;

FIG. 2 is a similar view with the cabinet closed and showing a portion of the towel feeding mechanism;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are fragmentary schematic views illustrating the towel feeding mechanism of FIG. 2 in different positions;

FIG. 5 is a view in front elevation of the towel cabinet with portions broken away to disclose parts of the mechanism;

FIG. 6 is a view shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary detail mechanism shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary vertical section through a portion of the towel advancing mechanism;

FIG. 9 is a view in elevation of the structure shown in FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary view illustrating the towel sensing mechanism in elevation as viewed from the plane XX in FIG. 5; and

FIG 11 is a view of part of a mechanism shown in FIG. 10 as viewed from the front of the cabinet.

The drawings do not illustrate an outside sheet metal case which may be used to enclose the cabinet and is decorative rather than functional. An understanding of the manner in which the mechanism of the cabinet functions can best be had by reference first to the schematic views in FIGS. 1 to 4, inclusive, which show the principal functional elements employed in supporting and advancing of the paper toweling. In these figures, the body of the cabinet is shown at 10 and is adapted to be supported in a vertical position against a wall. A cover 11 is in side elevation of the cabinet as it is of a portion of the 3,007,65h Patented Nov. 7, 1961 ICC hinged to the body so that it may be swung to an open position such as illustrated in FIG. 1 or to the closed position shown in FIG. 2. Two rolls of toweling are supported as shown, one at A in the upper portion of the cabinet, and the other at B in the cover. These rolls are supported for rotary motion by spring clip holders shown at 12 in FIG. 6 which have trunnions entering the hollow cores of the rolls to support them for rotation. These clips, however, are conventional and are, therefore, not disclosed in detail as any suitable roll supporting means may be employed for this purpose. Since one roll of toweling is supported in the cover and one in the housing, either may be replaced easily without disturbing the other by opening the cover to the position illustrated in FIG. 1.

Toweling from the roll A is trained over a guide roller 14 and then between a pressure roller 15 and feed roller 16 and downwardly through a guiding chute 17 so that it may project through an opening in the bottom of the cabinet and be torn against a tearing edge '18. Toweling from the roll B passes between a pressure roller 19 and feed roller 20 also to be led through the chute .17. Each of the pressure rollers 15 and 19 are urged downwardly by springs as shown at 21 in FIG. 6 and each has a projecting knurled knob 22 as shown in FIG. 5 so that it may be rotated for the purpose of advancing the paper between the rollers when a new roll is being placed in the machine.

In the normal condition of the machine, toweling from both rolls will have been torn against the tear edge 18 so that neither will be available to grasp and withdraw from the cabinet. Assuming that the roll A is in use and the roll B has been placed in the cabinet for use only after the roll A is exhausted, an actuating lever 24 which is pivoted to the cabinet as at 25 is depressed. The lever 24 has an arm 26 pivotally connected to a link 27 extends upwardly for connection with actuating plate 28 pivotally connected as at as, see also FIGS. 8 and 9, to a vertically sliding carriage 30. The carriage 30 is guided for vertical sliding movement in a slot 31 in the wall of the cabinet 10 and is urged upwardly by springs 32 shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 anchored at their upper ends to a bracket 33 fixed to the cabinet wall and at their lower ends to a bracket 34 at the bottom of the carriage 30. The connection between the upper end of the link 27 and the actuating plate 28 is formed by an inwardly projecting lug 36, best shown in FIGS. 5 and 10, which projects through a substantially rectangular opening 37 in the actuating plate. rolls 16 and 20 has a pin 3-? projecting from its end as best shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 and the pins normally assume the position illustrated in FIG. 2 where they stop against lugs 40 which project outwardly'from the edges of the sliding carriage 36 When paper is being dispensed from the roll A, the pivoted actuating plate 28 will assume the position illustrated in FIG. 2 with its lower right hand corner overlying the pin 39 on the roller 16. The rocking movement of .the plate in either direction is limited by a lug 41, see FIGS. 8 and 9, projecting from the base of the sliding carriage 39 into a rectangular opening 421 in the actuating plate. With the parts in the position of FIG. 2, depression of the lever 24 draws the actuating plate downwardly against the force of the springs 32 and its lower right hand edge engages the pin 39 on the feed roller 16- actuating the roller to feed the paper to a position where its end projects an inch or two below the tear edge i=8 and may easily be grasped. The position of the parts thus moved is shown in FIG. 3. The lever 24- is then released and the parts returned under force of the springs 32 to the position shown in FIG. 4. The person using the dispenser then grasps the toweling, pulling it outwardly as far as possible and Each of the feed -in FIG. 10 will drop into the 3 tearing it off against the edge 13. This movement of the toweling effects further rotation of the feed roll 16 until its pin 39 again engages the stop lugs 40 on the sliding carriage 30 and the parts will again be in the position illustrated in FIG. 2. This operation may be continued until the toweling in roll A is depleted.

In order to switch the towel advancing mechanism from one roll to the other automatically when the toweling n the first roll is exhausted, sensing fingers shown in FIGS. 5, 10 and 11 are employed. As best illustrated in FIGS. and 10, the feed rollers 20 and 16 are provided with spaced grooves 44 and the periphery of the roller between these grooves is provided with several resilient bands as indicated at 45 which prevents slippage of the paper as it passes between the pressure rollers and feed rollers. A pair of sensing fingers, best shown in FIGS. and 11, is pivoted on a single pin 46 fixed to and projecting inwardly from a wall of the housing 10 at a point between the rollers 16 and 20. Each sensing finger comprises a finger end 47 which rides on the toweling above one of the grooves 44 and an upwardly projecting actuating end 48 disposed above the opposite roll and poised to engage the lug 36 on the link 27 which pulls the actuating plate 28 downwardly by engagement in one side of its opening 37. In FIG. 10, paper from the roll A is being fed by the feed roll 16 and the fingers 47 engage the paper on both feed rolls '16 and 20 and are urged downwardly against the paper by a light spring 50 wound about the pin 46 and having ends engaging both of the sensing members. When the paper from roll A is exhausted, the sensing finger 47 shown at the left groove 44 under pressure of the spring 50 and its associated arm 48 will swing toward the left engaging the lug 36 to move the link 27 to the opposite side of the opening 37. Thus upon the next actuation of lever 24 to advance toweling through the chute 17 at the bottom of the cabinet, the link 27 will engage the actuating plate 28 at the opposite side of its pivotal support 29 rocking it to a position where its lower left hand corner in FIG. 1 will engage the pin 39 on the roller 20 and advance toweling from the roll B in the same manner as previously described in connection with the advancement of toweling from the roll A.

With the mechanism hereinabove described, an attendant is required to service the towel dispenser only at infrequent intervals because the second or standby roll can be used for a long period of time before it is necessary to replace the exhausted roll. The new roll is easily placed in the cabinet when the cover is swung to the open position illustrated in FIG. 1 but since the sensing finger 47 is in the groove of one of the feed rolls 16 or 20 and since the feed rollers cannot be freely rotated because of engagement of their pin 39 with the lugs 40, the following means are provided to facilitate threading of the toweling between the feed rollers and pressure rollers and downwardly through the chute 17. As previously described, the sliding carriage is vertically movable and is guided in a slot 52, see FIG. 10, in the wall of the cabinet '10. Upward movement of the sliding carriage 30 is normally limited by a rubber bumper 53 at itslower end which engages, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, with a stop 54 guided for sliding movement forwardly and upwardly against the lower inclined surface of a bracket 55 in which it is retained by means of a pin 56 extending through an inclined slot 57 in the bracket. The cover 11 is pivotally supported relative to the bracket 55 by pins 59, one of which extends outwardly through the bracket and which may be an extension of the supporting shaft of the feed roller 20. Pivoted to the cover eccentrically of its pivotal support 59, and as by a pin illustrated at 61, is a link 62 which engages the stop 54 so that upon opening of the cover, the stop slides forwardly and upwardly with respect to the cabinet. This permits the sliding carriage 30 to move upwardly moving 4 its lugs 40 out of the path of the pins 39 to permit rotation of the feed rollers 16 and 20.

The sliding carriage 30 also carries a pin 64, see FIGS. 8 and 10, which enters between a pair of lugs 65, with opposed cam faces, depending one from each of the sensing assemblies. As the pin 64 rises when the cover is swung to its open position, it engages the cam faces on the lugs 65 and spreads them apart forcibly swinging each of the fingers 47 to positions somewhat higher than that shown in FIG. 10 where they rest upon the paper on the rollers .16 and 20. Thus, when toweling from a new roll is being threaded into the dispenser, the sensing fingers are held in unobstructing positions and the feed rollers are free to rotate so that by simply grasping and turning one of the knurled knobs 22 on one of the pressure rollers 15 or 19 the corresponding toweling may easily be advanced between the rollers and downwardly through the chute 17.

I claim:

1. A towel dispensing cabinet comprising means for supporting two rolls of toweling, two towel advancing rollers, one engageable with toweling from each of said rolls and operable to project an end of the toweling to a position outside the cabinet, lever actuated means to rotate said rollers alternatively, means sensing the presence of toweling trained over said advancing rollers, means to change the lever actuated means from one roll to the other, and means actuated by the sensing means when the toweling in one roll is exhausted to actuate said changing means whereby toweling will be fed from the other roll.

2. A towel dispensing cabinet comprising means for supporting two rolls of toweling, two towel advancing rollers, one engageable with toweling from each of said rolls and operable to project an end of the toweling to a position outside the cabinet, lever actuated means to rotate said rollers alternatively, means sensing the presence of toweling trained over said advancing rollers, means to change the lever actuated means from one roll to the other, means actuated by the sensing means when the toweling in one roll is exhausted to actuate said changing means whereby toweling will be fed from the other roll, said sensing means comprising a pivoted finger resting upon the toweling on each advancing roller, and said rollers having a groove underlying the finger to permit it to pivot when the toweling is exhausted.

3. A towel dispensing cabinet comprising means for supporting two rolls of toweling, two towel advancing rollers, one engageable with toweling from each of said rolls and operable to project an end of the toweling to a position outside the cabinet, lever actuated means to rotate said rollers alternatively, means sensing the presence oftoweling trained over said advancing rollers, means to change the lever actuated means from one roll to the other, means actuated by the sensing means when the toweling in one roll is exhausted to actuate said changing means whereby toweling will be fed from the other roll, said sensing means comprising a pivoted finger resting upon the toweling on each advancing roller, said rollers having a groove underlying the finger to permit it to pivot when the toweling is exhausted, and resilient means tending to urge said fingers into the grooves.

4. A two-roll towel dispensing cabinet of the kind described having a separate towel advancing roller for each towel roll operable to project an end of the toweling to a position outside of the cabinet, a pin projecting from an end of each advancing roller, a sliding carriage between said pins, an actuating plate pivoted to said carriage and adapted upon pivotal movement to engage said pins alternatively to move one or the other of said rollers, and means to slide the carriage to efiect such engagement.

5. A two roll towel dispensing cabinet of the kind described having a separate towel advancing roller for each towel roll operable to project an end of the toweling to a position outside of the cabinet, a pin projecting from an end of each advancing roller, a sliding carriage between said pins, an actuating plate pivoted to said carriage and adapted upon pivotal movement to engage said pins alternatively to move one or the other of said rollers, means to slide the carriage to effect such engagement, said carriage sliding downwardly a distance to impart partial rotation to a roller and project a short end of toweling to be grasped and pulled to effect full rotation of a roller, and means on the carriage engaged by the pins on the rollers to stop them after a full rotation.

6. A two roll towel dispensing cabinet of the kind described having a separate towel advancing roller for each towel roll operable to project an end of the toweling to a position outside of the cabinet, a pin projecting from an end of each advancing roller, a sliding carriage between said pins, an actuating plate pivoted to said carriage and adapted upon pivotal movement to engage said pins alternatively to move one or the other of said rollers, means to slide the carriage to effect such engagement, said carriage sliding downwardly a distance to impart partial rotation to a roller and project a short end of toweling to be grasped and pulled to effect full rotation of a roller, means on the carriage engaged by the pins on the rollers to stop them after a full rotation, said cabinet having a hinged cover, and means actuated by opening of the cover to replace a roll of toweling, to raise said carriage upwardly from its roller stopping position.

7. A towel dispensing cabinet comprising means for supporting two rolls of toweling, two towel advancing rollers, one engageable with toweling from each of said rolls and operable to project an end of the toweling to a position outside the cabinet, lever actuated means to rotate said rollers alternatively, means sensing the presence of toweling trained over said advancing rollers, means to change the lever actuated means from one roll to the other, means actuated by the sensing means when the toweling in one roll is exhausted to actuate said changing means whereby toweling will be fed from the other roll, said sensing means comprising a pivoted finger resting upon the toweling on each advancing roller, said rollers having a groove underlying the finger to permit it to pivot when the toweling is exhausted, said cabinet having a hinged cover, and means actuated by opening of the cover to replace a roll of toweling to lift said fingers away from the advancing rollers.

8. In a towel dispensing cabinet adapted to contain two rolls of toweling, two towel advancing mechanisms including rollers over which toweling is threaded, sensing mechanism engaging the toweling on said rollers, means actuated by the sensing mechanism to determine the operation of the advancing mechanisms and cause operation of either when the supply of toweling in the other is exhausted, a hinged cover on the cabinet, and means actuated by opening of the cover to move the advancing mechanisms and sensing mechanism away from said rollers to facilitate replacement of an exhausted roll of toweling.

9. A towel dispensing cabinet having a cover hinged adjacent its forward lower edge to swing outwardly, two threading means including towel advancing means in the lower portion of the cabinet, through each of which toweling from a separate roll is threaded to be advanced thereby, said cabinet having a discharge opening through which toweling can be advanced by either of said means, means to support a first roll of toweling in the upper portion of said cabinet, and means to support a second roll of toweling in the cover disposed to occupy a position between the first roll and said towel advancing means when the cover is closed, and to swing outwardly with the cover upon opening thereof said threading means being exposed when said cover is open to facilitate threading of toweling from said rolls through said towel advancing means.

10. A towel dispensing cabinet having a cover hinged adjacent its forward lower edge to swing outwardly, two threading means including towel advancing means in the lower port-ion of the cabinet, through each of which toweling from a separate roll is threaded to be advanced thereby, said cabinet having a discharge opening through which toweling can be advanced by either of said means, means to support a first roll of toweling in the upper portion of said cabinet, means to support a second roll of toweling in the cover disposed to occupy a position between the first roll and said towel advancing means when the cover is closed, and to swing outwardly with the cover upon opening thereof said threading means being exposed when said cover is open to facilitate threading of toweling from said rolls through said towel advancing means, and means actuated by a lever outside of the cabinet to actuate one towel advancing means at a time.

Dabkin Mar. 20, 1956 Anander May 27, 1958 

